Cars

Over the last several weeks, I have spent a lot of time with cars designed to drive themselves. This has included Nissan/Infiniti’s Propilot Assist, Tesla’s Autopilot, Byton’s EV prototype (with front seats that rotate backward) and even taken a ride in Lyft’s autonomous rideshare service at CES. The technology is advancing rapidly but is the future of driving going to be fully-autonomous?

If you are like me, you like driving. I enjoy the rush of accelerating in a sports car as much as any guy. I like the freedom that comes with being able to go anywhere at any time. I like being in control of what happens when I am behind the wheel. I love to drive!

Infiniti QX50 with ProPILOT Assist

I also love tech. I have always been an early adopter. I frequently preorder the latest gadget. I am usually the first person to beta test software and realize its strengths and weaknesses. I bought one of the first electric cars over 7 years ago and I use my adaptive cruise control almost daily in my current EV.

Does that make me the perfect candidate for a self-driving car?

I honestly don’t know.

Nissan LEAF with ProPILOT Assist

There is no denying that technology and cars are combining in a way they never have before. They have become computers on wheels. This gives them more capabilities than they have ever had before. They will continue to be able to take more and more control

The question really boils down to how much will we trust the car and the tech? I think that is precisely why all of the cars that I have driven have taken somewhat different approaches to their implementation of self-driving tech.

Different Approaches

I think that is precisely why every car company is taking their own approach towards autonomy. Some are taking a more cautious while others claim the future is almost here.

Tesla

When most people think of self-driving cars, they think of Tesla’s Autopilot system and videos of people doing nothing behind the wheel. Their tech is not yet supposed to be used this way yet but people expect it to be this way. Tesla buyers seem to be overly trusting of the tech.

Tesla wants to be the face of autonomous driving and states all over the news that they are pushing for full Level 5 self-driving (which means that the car can do anything that a human can do). They claim that a system when the car can take full control will be available in the not so distant future.

Tesla claims they can achieve this with their current camera and radar hardware they are shipping on their cars

Nissan/Infiniti

Andy Christensen, Sr. Manager at Nissan/Infiniti told me that Nissan is taking a bit of a different approach. Nissan wants to assist drivers and make their driving experiences better.

It feels like they are wanting to build that trust in the tech over time. They are in no hurry to take full control from drivers.

Infiniti QX50 with Autopilot

Andy told me that things like driving in snow will require driver intervention for quite a while.

Nissan current ProPILOT Assist is a Level 2 system that uses cameras and radar to keep you in your lane (through minor steering adjustments) and keep your distance from other vehicles. Honestly, it has done a great job of doing this Infiniti QX50 and the Nissan LEAF vehicle. It while being so mild that you barely know it is there.

ProPILOT Assist uses radar and cameras but Andy feels that a lot more hardware will be required for full Level 5 autonomy. Nissan used a lot of sensors to achieve the test run in the video below.

Byton

Byton is a Chinese company that came out of nowhere to show off their electric vehicle prototype at CES in Jan 2018. The vehicle is still a way from production but they claim that it will come with seats that are designed to rotate rearward when autonomous driving is engaged enabling the driver to interact with passengers creating the road trip of the future.

Byton did not say much about how they were going to achieve autonomy, only that their cars would ship prepared for it.

Lyft

Finally, Lyft was driving passengers between the Las Vegas Convention Center and several of the casinos on the strip without driver interaction. You simply called for a ride through Lyft’s app and then the car showed up and took you to your destination. Under current self-driving laws, a driver still had to be sitting in the driver’s seat but didn’t have to drive the vehicle.

It was a very impressive demonstration that showed how easy it will someday be to simply request a car and get to your destination even without a driver.

Valeo and Navya are planning to implement self-driving taxis in Asian markets.

As the tech gets better, cars will be able to do more of the driving. The question becomes would you trust your life to the tech? Will you let it drive you by it drive you completely by itself?

Every parent knows that traveling with kids is a challenge. It doesn’t seem to matter if it is just down the street to school or a cross country road trip, having kids in the vehicle increases the stress level to the point that it is amazing that any family every makes it to their destination safely. Honda is working hard to make sure that every family has a better and safer experience in their vehicles.

The 2018 Honda Odyssey Elite is no exception.

With having 6 kids, I thought I had seen everything. I was honestly shocked that Honda could solve issues I didn’t know I had. Let me explain…

I’m sure every parent on the planet has a some point sat their kid in front of the tv and tried to distract them for a while. I found out quite a while ago that somehow playing a dvd in the car silences kids from yelling “She touched me!!!”. What I didn’t know was that if you stream an entire season of Daniel Tiger on PBS kids using the Odyssey’s AT&T hotspot, that somehow they will start hugging each other and singing “Won’t you be my neighbor, won’t you be my friend?”

Now I know you might be saying “That’s great but my teenagers hate that show. What about them?” That’s where Cabin Control and Social Playlist come in. Honda has created an app that works with the built-in hotspot in the vehicle that goes a long way to letting those harder to please occupants think they are getting their way while still keeping your sanity.

Cabin Control has neat tricks like allowing them to control the second and third row climate control system from the app and letting them send where they want to go to the vehicle’s navigation system (where the driver can approve or reject) from their phones. But Social Playlist is the really what my teens loved. It lets up to 7 different devices send songs to the vehicle which creates the ultimate random playlist with everyone getting something they like. I had no idea Social Playlist would cause my teenage son to take out his headphones and ask questions about my song selections.

Which brings me to CabinTalk. At home, when you call your kids, most families either yell for them or send a sibling to get them. If you have a smart home, you might use some sort of intercom system with Amazon’s DropIn to make your life easier. In most large vehicles, you end up yelling to the back row. Cabin Talk is an intercom system for the Odyssey. Simply hit a button and your voice comes through every speaker in the vehicle even if they are using the wireless headphones to stream Netflix so my son didn’t have to yell “Who is Vanilla Ice?” to inquire about my song choice.

CabinWatch is like an Arlo smart home camera for the car. Most parents will deem this as unnecessary until they realize that it lets you see when that sneaky little toddler maneuvers her way our of her car seat straps or drops her drink on the floor and doesn’t want to tell you. They can’t even hide their messes at night. I was surprised at how often we turned it on and much preferred it over the rear occupant mirror.

Most minivan’s today seat 7 or 8 passengers. With our full household, needing 8 seats is the norm. I will admit that with all 8 seats in the Odyssey, access to the third row is a bit cramped but it works. We also successfully put 3 narrow car seats in the third row allowing my 3 older boys to sit in the much larger second row. The boys weren’t cramped although the girls did complain that they struggled to see the tv over my basketball player sons.

Where the Odyssey’s seating configuration really shines is with 7 passengers. When not needed, the second row middle seat easily lifts out to make room for the Magic Slide seats. With just grabbing a handle, the 2 second row bucket seats slide from side-to-side. In seconds you can separate your kids from picking on each other by creating two outboard seats or if you prefer, you can create a wide aisle down accessible from either power sliding door or narrow ones for little kids to get in the third row from both doors.

Now for the trunk…Provided you don’t have that removable 8th seat stored in the trunk, there is tons of space for even double strollers and I can’t say enough good things about the idea of Honda putting a ShopVac in the trunk so you don’t have to wait to take the van to the carwash to clean up those dropped french fries. My only minor complaint is that I wish it was designed so my kids could clean up their messes before I got involved but I guess Honda is all about safety (I could write another whole post about the safety features) and their probably isn’t a good way to make my wishes come true.

If you have read this far, you are probably getting the impression by now, that I love how Honda has made my life easier as a parent. Even if you are not typically a minivan parent, the Odyssey is worth checking out.

That is the phrase that keeps running through my mind every time I drive the 2017 Kia Cadenza. It is definitely not the economy car that most people envision when they think of the manufacturer. Kia has worked very hard to give this vehicle a luxurious feel and presence while still providing good value. It has paid off.

The exterior styling of the Cadenza reminds me of a BMW 3 series. That’s not a bad thing. It has a lot of similarities without being a copycat which you might cause you to confuse the two vehicles in a crowded parking lot.

I honestly like the way that Kia’s signature “tiger-nose” grill fits with the unique z-shaped LED headlights. It looks nice and clean without being over-the-top aggressive.

The rear of the vehicle is clean and simple with the most dominant feature being the dual exhaust ports which go through the bumper. I like the look but found it to be perhaps a bit too simple as for the first few days I found it a bit challenging to find the hidden controls to open the trunk without using the key fob.

Speaking of the trunk, it is huge! Through much of the time driving the car, I had several car seats stored in it (6 kids with a 5 passenger car) and still had tons of room for groceries. I even fit a 6 foot section of PVC pipe. It is a great trunk!

When I first sat in the Cadenza, I was immediately impressed by the quilted leather seats. They are nice looking, supportive and comfortable. That opinion remained even over the 1000 plus miles I drove the vehicle.

My kids fell in love with the heating and cooling aspects of them (only heating in the back). I also found that the seats were also quite easy to mount car seats to as the seat cushions don’t curve too much and the LATCH points and tethering points are easily accessible. There is also a ton of room in the back seat to even mount rear facing car seats (something many cars have a challenge doing behind my 6’3″ frame).

The dash is nicely laid out with the buttons all being easily accessible and intuitive. The addition of Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto is a nice addition so you don’t have to re-input your navigation destination into the car. I can’t wait until more manufacturers make this work wirelessly. For now, you still have to connect your phone via a cable for CarPlay in the Cadenza. I was not able to test whether Android Auto has to be wired. There is a wireless charging pad in front of the gear shift.

I’m not quite sure the fascination with putting analog clocks in luxury vehicles. I’m as much of a fan of a nice Rolex as anyone, but that is because I view it as a nice piece of craftsmanship and jewelry. In a car, it just seems out-of-place next to the plethora of digital displays in today’s modern vehicles. It feels a bit like putting an analog face on my Apple Watch. Sure, it tells the time but it does not exhibit craftsmanship (like a mechanical watch) or do much to make me look better. In my opinion, it is unnecessary in the Cadenza as well.

The model I drove was the Limited which came fully loaded with every safety feature. This included blind-spot detection, Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), Advanced Smart Cruise Control (ASCC), Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), an and Forward Collision Warning System (FCWS). While I am glad I luckily did not need these systems to kick in to save me from an accident, I love that these types of features are becoming more commonplace and I am glad this car has them.

The Cadenza is a very smooth and quiet car. Kia used some extra thick glass on the vehicle which provides an exceptional amount of sound deadening material. I definitely noticed this when I drove it at freeways speeds with no kids but when kids were in the car, I found myself enjoying the Harman Kardon Quantum Logic audio system more (which indecently sounded better to me than the HK system in my BMW).

Kia has come a long way and the Cadenza is an excellent example of this. It is a good looking, luxury vehicle with lots of room, safety features, smooth and quiet ride.

With a price starting at $31,990, it is a good value for a nice luxurious vehicle.

Have you been wondering if you can make a good side income driving for Uber? As a father of six, I’m always looking for a good side hustle so I set out to see if Uber was a valid way to make some extra money.

People claim that they can’t make enough money to make a career out of driving for Uber. I wanted to test it out for myself so I signed up as a driver. I love the idea of something flexible that parents can use to earn extra funds and still allow them to work around hectic family schedules.

Getting Started with Uber

The process to get setup with Uber was pretty simple. I signed up online then attended an in-person event to finish the process. They ran a background check, requested some documentation and a vehicle inspection. The entire process went fairly smoothly, despite the fact that I chose to use my electric car, a BMW i3 (more on that later).

Driving for the First Time

With the kids off to school, I put the Uber placard in my window, placed pepper spray in the driver’s door (just in case) and logged into the Uber Partners app on my smartphone to tell them I was ready to drive. Within minutes, I got a notification that someone wanted a ride. I accepted and used the GPS within the app to drive to the pickup location.

My first passenger was an older couple who wanted a ride to the train station, a short 14 minute ride of 7.63 miles and a fare of $14.06.

I can do this, I thought.

Safety

One of the biggest concerns people have about driving for Uber is safety. Will they be safe while driving? Since there have been a few high-profile news stories about Uber passengers getting violent, this seemed like a valid concern.

I didn’t find safety to be an issue. I met lots of very nice people and drove in areas I was familiar with.

I did take a few precautions. I kept mace in my door just in case and used a mount for my smartphone so I could stay handsfree.

I learned almost immediately that you MUST have some sort of mount to hold your smartphone in place. I honestly think Uber should make this part of the vehicle inspection. It is simply not safe to be looking at a phone for directions or where to pick someone up without a mount.

Proclip makesvehicle-specific mounts for just about any car and sent us one that was perfect for the i3 coupled with my iPhone 6S Plus. The mount even charges the phone and will accommodate a wide range of cases.

I always stopped driving by about 10pm so that I was taking people out for the night rather than bringing them home. So far I’ve avoided picking up an overly drunk passenger. I think this is a major part of the reason why I have never felt unsafe, but you do make more money if you are willing to drive later at night.

Flexibility

I loved the flexibility Uber offered. I was able to login to drive anytime I wanted and sign out anytime I was done. I found that demand is always highest in the evenings on the weekends here in San Diego. I did try and schedule my driving around those times as much as possible because I knew that I would make more money driving during those times, but I was free to set my own hour and adjust them to fit my schedule.

Demand

Demand while the kids are at school was a lot more sporadic. I might give several rides back to back and then have nothing for hours. I also found that even though Uber is completely flexible with when I can login and work, the end time is much more difficult to schedule as you never know where the next ride is going to take you. It might be right next to your kids’ school (which I had happen perfectly once) or your last ride might want you to drive them to the airport which could take hours so you want to make sure you aren’t on a tight time schedule while driving.

Overall, the experience was good and driving for Uber is something I think I’ll continue to do as my schedule allows time for it. I met some great people and it was a really interesting experience. I actually found that it was great for networking and as a work at home dad it was a great way to get out of the house.

Every year I watch the Super Bowl with my kids. We enjoy lots of great food, cheer for our favorite team and laugh at the Super Bowl ads. This year, like last, I loved that most of the ads were very kid-friendly. There were no sleazy GoDaddy ads and not even the Pepsi ad of years past. This year it was KungFu Panda, weiner dogs running towards ketchup, a family sitting down for PizzaHut together and a dad watching out for his teenage girl on a date. It seems that the advertising companies are now trying to attract the attention of families.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouTeio9AzGQ[/embedyt]

As a parent, I laughed at the Doritos Ultrasound ad of a baby wanting to eat Doritos and was honestly intrigued by how many people it offended. I have snuck my kids all kinds of things before they were supposed to have it so the idea of an unborn baby wanting Doritos does not offend me.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugn_qmQ0NFo[/embedyt]

My 10 yr old son loved the T-Mobile “Drop the Balls” ad! He didn’t know anything about Steve Harvey’s Miss Universe mess-up. He just loved seeing all the balls overwhelm and make fun of Verizon as he has seen their ads.